Jan Hicks
@dustystacks.bsky.social
Archivist. Book reader. Persistent.
I write down my thoughts about books here https://thinkaboutreading.wordpress.com/
I write other things here https://thesiftingwell.wordpress.com/
I write down my thoughts about books here https://thinkaboutreading.wordpress.com/
I write other things here https://thesiftingwell.wordpress.com/
Reposted by Jan Hicks
Fungal Misadventure (a story in the form of a Bluesky thread)
"Have you ever wondered?" he asked, as they picked mushrooms in the forest near her house. "How many people died from fungal misadventure during prehistory before we found out which of these were safe to eat?"
"Have you ever wondered?" he asked, as they picked mushrooms in the forest near her house. "How many people died from fungal misadventure during prehistory before we found out which of these were safe to eat?"
November 25, 2025 at 8:50 AM
Fungal Misadventure (a story in the form of a Bluesky thread)
"Have you ever wondered?" he asked, as they picked mushrooms in the forest near her house. "How many people died from fungal misadventure during prehistory before we found out which of these were safe to eat?"
"Have you ever wondered?" he asked, as they picked mushrooms in the forest near her house. "How many people died from fungal misadventure during prehistory before we found out which of these were safe to eat?"
There's a new reading challenge in town. My thoughts on Big Books and #DoorstoppersInDecember
thinkaboutreading.wordpress.com/2025/11/25/i...
thinkaboutreading.wordpress.com/2025/11/25/i...
I Like Big Books and I Cannot Lie
With apologies for introducing an earworm from my twisting of Sir Mix-A-Lot’s 1992 dubious classic in the title to this post, I’ve noticed a couple of the blogs that I follow mentioning…
thinkaboutreading.wordpress.com
November 25, 2025 at 12:27 PM
There's a new reading challenge in town. My thoughts on Big Books and #DoorstoppersInDecember
thinkaboutreading.wordpress.com/2025/11/25/i...
thinkaboutreading.wordpress.com/2025/11/25/i...
Book 32 from the 40 I chose to read this year is Shalash the Iraqi, published by @andotherstories.bsky.social
Sobering satire that illuminates life in Iraq under the new constitution of 2005.
thinkaboutreading.wordpress.com/2025/11/24/s...
#BookSky #YearOfReadingIndependently
Sobering satire that illuminates life in Iraq under the new constitution of 2005.
thinkaboutreading.wordpress.com/2025/11/24/s...
#BookSky #YearOfReadingIndependently
Shalash the Iraqi
Between October 2005 and November 2006, an anonymous writer posted stories to a website under the pseudonym Shalash the Iraqi. These stories documented the election process that, under the new Iraq…
thinkaboutreading.wordpress.com
November 24, 2025 at 12:42 PM
Book 32 from the 40 I chose to read this year is Shalash the Iraqi, published by @andotherstories.bsky.social
Sobering satire that illuminates life in Iraq under the new constitution of 2005.
thinkaboutreading.wordpress.com/2025/11/24/s...
#BookSky #YearOfReadingIndependently
Sobering satire that illuminates life in Iraq under the new constitution of 2005.
thinkaboutreading.wordpress.com/2025/11/24/s...
#BookSky #YearOfReadingIndependently
A timely story about the decline of local newspapers and why local journalism (not the version that is mainly syndicated news) is important.
The MEN is now the only local newsroom in Greater Manchester that has more than a handful of staff reporters, but go back 25 years and it would have been one of a dozen.
Our weekend read is the tale of what’s been lost.
manchestermill.co.uk/the-clatteri...
Our weekend read is the tale of what’s been lost.
manchestermill.co.uk/the-clatteri...
The clattering, chaotic, romantic world of Greater Manchester’s lost newspapers
What happens when a community loses its champion?
manchestermill.co.uk
November 22, 2025 at 1:35 PM
A timely story about the decline of local newspapers and why local journalism (not the version that is mainly syndicated news) is important.
It is a while since I remembered to share links to the thoughts I've had about books I've read. Here's a thread #BookSky
First up, devastating but hopeful short stories about womanhood by Paola Ferrante published by @influxpress.bsky.social
thinkaboutreading.wordpress.com/2025/10/10/h...
First up, devastating but hopeful short stories about womanhood by Paola Ferrante published by @influxpress.bsky.social
thinkaboutreading.wordpress.com/2025/10/10/h...
Her Body Among Animals
Paola Ferrante’s Her Body Among Animals is a collection of short stories that examine women’s place in western society, the artificial limits placed on us because of our gender, and the…
thinkaboutreading.wordpress.com
November 15, 2025 at 12:19 PM
It is a while since I remembered to share links to the thoughts I've had about books I've read. Here's a thread #BookSky
First up, devastating but hopeful short stories about womanhood by Paola Ferrante published by @influxpress.bsky.social
thinkaboutreading.wordpress.com/2025/10/10/h...
First up, devastating but hopeful short stories about womanhood by Paola Ferrante published by @influxpress.bsky.social
thinkaboutreading.wordpress.com/2025/10/10/h...
Do you like books about friendship and compassion? Do you enjoy magical, unexplainable events? Does reading something that makes you feel differently about the world float your boat? This book checked all those boxes for me. Why not enter Tom's competition to win a signed copy?
Author wrote best book he's ever written.
Publisher disintegrated/fucked off with author's earnings.
Book was finally published by new publisher.
Author has bought two hardbacks, for full price, to give away, signed.
Please repost/reply if you'd like a chance to win one..
bsky.app/profile/zygo...
Publisher disintegrated/fucked off with author's earnings.
Book was finally published by new publisher.
Author has bought two hardbacks, for full price, to give away, signed.
Please repost/reply if you'd like a chance to win one..
bsky.app/profile/zygo...
November 14, 2025 at 7:38 AM
Do you like books about friendship and compassion? Do you enjoy magical, unexplainable events? Does reading something that makes you feel differently about the world float your boat? This book checked all those boxes for me. Why not enter Tom's competition to win a signed copy?
Reposted by Jan Hicks
Read Performatively with Effin' Birds buttons, shirts, mugs and stickers.
20% off with the code SHOPWIDE20:
eatf.art/reading
20% off with the code SHOPWIDE20:
eatf.art/reading
November 10, 2025 at 6:43 PM
Read Performatively with Effin' Birds buttons, shirts, mugs and stickers.
20% off with the code SHOPWIDE20:
eatf.art/reading
20% off with the code SHOPWIDE20:
eatf.art/reading
Me: There's no Bake Off.
Himself: No, it's finished.
Me: What am I going to watch?
Himself: It's okay, it's Quizzy.
And that's when I realised it's not Tuesday.
#AShortSadTale #QuizzyMonday
Himself: No, it's finished.
Me: What am I going to watch?
Himself: It's okay, it's Quizzy.
And that's when I realised it's not Tuesday.
#AShortSadTale #QuizzyMonday
November 10, 2025 at 6:48 PM
Me: There's no Bake Off.
Himself: No, it's finished.
Me: What am I going to watch?
Himself: It's okay, it's Quizzy.
And that's when I realised it's not Tuesday.
#AShortSadTale #QuizzyMonday
Himself: No, it's finished.
Me: What am I going to watch?
Himself: It's okay, it's Quizzy.
And that's when I realised it's not Tuesday.
#AShortSadTale #QuizzyMonday
I'm in my Give A Fuck Fifties. Hard identify with these bolshy redbreasts.
Time and time again, the United Kingdom’s robins will literally dance right up to you and shake out a bag containing all zero of the fucks they possess directly in front of your face.
November 9, 2025 at 9:13 AM
I'm in my Give A Fuck Fifties. Hard identify with these bolshy redbreasts.
Reposted by Jan Hicks
Reposted by Jan Hicks
I didn't realise when I woke up this morning that I was going to write a spooky story in its entirety, nor quite sure what it was going to be about. Then I remembered today was Halloween, so I thought: Why not post it here? www.tom-cox.com/lillian/
Lillian
I didn't realise when I woke up this morning that I was going to write a spooky story in its entirety, nor quite what it was going to be about (apart from an unnerving memory from my childhood about a...
www.tom-cox.com
October 31, 2025 at 5:20 PM
I didn't realise when I woke up this morning that I was going to write a spooky story in its entirety, nor quite sure what it was going to be about. Then I remembered today was Halloween, so I thought: Why not post it here? www.tom-cox.com/lillian/
I'm an archivist. I love photographs. It's the names, places and memories attached to these images that give them their power.
November 1, 2025 at 10:52 AM
I'm an archivist. I love photographs. It's the names, places and memories attached to these images that give them their power.
Reposted by Jan Hicks
If you're a National Trust member, it's that time of year again: Midnight tonight is the deadline. It's a shame people have to keep doing this to keep a toehold on historical truth in this country, but here we are. Voting link: www.nationaltrust.org.uk/who-we-are/a...
![[Scene is the entrance cabin to a NATIONAL TRUST PROPERTY AND GARDENS]
1
NATIONAL TRUST EMPLOYEE [inside cabin]:
Hello there
2
[A young family - two parents two kids - have arrived at the front desk].
DAD:
Hi - do you have an activity trail, for the kids?
3
NT EMPLOYEE:
Of course – you’re just in time for the Autumn Gammon Trail!
4
MUM:
That sounds fun, doesn’t it kids?
5
NT EMPLOYEE [handing an activity sheet and pencils to the kids]:
Every autumn, the Reform Trust gammons flock back to the National Trust for the AGM. Just follow the trail round the grounds, and see how many you can spot!
6
NT EMPLOYEE [hearing something in the gardens]:
Listen - that's their call
[Calls emanating from the landscape]:
tut-tut
woke-woke
7
NT EMPLOYEE [showing the family an apparently empty fenced enclosure with some bushes in]:
They are extremely sensitive and fragile...
But you can bring them out of hiding if you put a little sign down mentioning slavery.
8
KIDS [pointing]:
There they are!
[Some little red faced PEOPLE wearing Barbour jackets and gilets emerge cautiously from the bushes. They are creeping towards a TINY SIGN in the middle of the enclosure].
[Little people noises]:
woke-woke
tut-tut
woke-woke
9
[Close-up of the TINY SIGN - we can read that it says]:
Slavery had a bit to do with building this massive house.
[Noises from the little people again as they inspect the tiny sign]:
tut-tut
woke-woke
10
MUM [pointing]:
What's that one doing there?
NT EMPLOYEE:
Oh, that's so sweet…
11
[We see that one of the people is sat on a rock, with a little laptop open on a tree stump, and they are furiously typing away].
NT EMPLOYEE:
I think he's writing a column for the Daily Telegraph…
12
[We see close up to the little person’s screen, it is a word document reading]:
Are National Trust scones secretly WOKE?
[ends]](https://cdn.bsky.app/img/feed_thumbnail/plain/did:plc:4m3we4apbjayclzcnhwe3pfp/bafkreib7lt736b6rmzinml5s7kxjdaapo2a36xp4d4lssypimx3taqicdm@jpeg)
October 31, 2025 at 9:02 AM
If you're a National Trust member, it's that time of year again: Midnight tonight is the deadline. It's a shame people have to keep doing this to keep a toehold on historical truth in this country, but here we are. Voting link: www.nationaltrust.org.uk/who-we-are/a...
I briefly joined Substack to follow a handful of writers I enjoy. I downloaded the app in good faith. The amplification of the Notes function over the actual content annoyed me. The article shared by @allybfraz.bsky.social shows the reason behind that and more. I'm glad I left it behind.
Here’s an article from Tyler Denk back in August that is just one peak behind the curtain for anyone who is interested: mail.bigdeskenergy.com/p/substack-j...
Substack just killed the creator economy
RIP
mail.bigdeskenergy.com
October 29, 2025 at 3:37 PM
I briefly joined Substack to follow a handful of writers I enjoy. I downloaded the app in good faith. The amplification of the Notes function over the actual content annoyed me. The article shared by @allybfraz.bsky.social shows the reason behind that and more. I'm glad I left it behind.
I like Epping Forest and Connaught Water
October 28, 2025 at 9:55 AM
I like Epping Forest and Connaught Water
Reposted by Jan Hicks
The stories of Levenshulme take centre stage this November, as A Sense of Place transforms the Old Library into a night of words, sound and memory.
Among the readings is Parakeet by Dipika Mummery, set in Highfield Country Park, one of our neighbourhood's wonderful green spaces.
buff.ly/FPa13ub
Among the readings is Parakeet by Dipika Mummery, set in Highfield Country Park, one of our neighbourhood's wonderful green spaces.
buff.ly/FPa13ub
October 27, 2025 at 2:39 PM
The stories of Levenshulme take centre stage this November, as A Sense of Place transforms the Old Library into a night of words, sound and memory.
Among the readings is Parakeet by Dipika Mummery, set in Highfield Country Park, one of our neighbourhood's wonderful green spaces.
buff.ly/FPa13ub
Among the readings is Parakeet by Dipika Mummery, set in Highfield Country Park, one of our neighbourhood's wonderful green spaces.
buff.ly/FPa13ub
Reposted by Jan Hicks
October Book of the Month is 'Bog People: A Working-Class Anthology of Folk Horror'. In an extract from the introduction, editor Hollie Starling (@folkhorrormagpie.bsky.social) considers the disruptive potential of stories to upend fortresses of power www.caughtbytheriver.net/2025/10/bog-...
October 18, 2025 at 9:41 AM
October Book of the Month is 'Bog People: A Working-Class Anthology of Folk Horror'. In an extract from the introduction, editor Hollie Starling (@folkhorrormagpie.bsky.social) considers the disruptive potential of stories to upend fortresses of power www.caughtbytheriver.net/2025/10/bog-...
Reposted by Jan Hicks
£2 is unlikely to buy you a takeaway coffee.
But for £2 per month you can read everything I write here:
www.tom-cox.com
If you subscribe for a full year it's even cheaper.
Weekly newsletters & an archive of 100s of 1000s of words.
It's kind of like busking.
But I only play my own songs.
But for £2 per month you can read everything I write here:
www.tom-cox.com
If you subscribe for a full year it's even cheaper.
Weekly newsletters & an archive of 100s of 1000s of words.
It's kind of like busking.
But I only play my own songs.
Tom Cox
New writing by bestselling author Tom Cox.
www.tom-cox.com
October 26, 2025 at 8:13 AM
£2 is unlikely to buy you a takeaway coffee.
But for £2 per month you can read everything I write here:
www.tom-cox.com
If you subscribe for a full year it's even cheaper.
Weekly newsletters & an archive of 100s of 1000s of words.
It's kind of like busking.
But I only play my own songs.
But for £2 per month you can read everything I write here:
www.tom-cox.com
If you subscribe for a full year it's even cheaper.
Weekly newsletters & an archive of 100s of 1000s of words.
It's kind of like busking.
But I only play my own songs.
I think about Fen Marilyn a lot. You could say she haunts me, although we've never met in person. The book she appears in, 21st-Century Yokel, is W G Sebald, but if W G Sebald let his surrealism rip.
The book was republished this month blackwells.co.uk/bookshop/pro...
#BookSky
The book was republished this month blackwells.co.uk/bookshop/pro...
#BookSky
October 23, 2025 at 6:58 AM
I think about Fen Marilyn a lot. You could say she haunts me, although we've never met in person. The book she appears in, 21st-Century Yokel, is W G Sebald, but if W G Sebald let his surrealism rip.
The book was republished this month blackwells.co.uk/bookshop/pro...
#BookSky
The book was republished this month blackwells.co.uk/bookshop/pro...
#BookSky
Reposted by Jan Hicks
Today’s #1000postcard is the song thrush who sits singing his heart out to anyone who will listen. His liquid song like upward rain dripping over the wet woods in fluting refrain
October 23, 2025 at 5:42 AM
Today’s #1000postcard is the song thrush who sits singing his heart out to anyone who will listen. His liquid song like upward rain dripping over the wet woods in fluting refrain
I had a flexi day off today. We went to see the autumn colours at Dunham Massey this afternoon. The trees and the kitchen garden cooperated nicely.
October 20, 2025 at 5:30 PM
I had a flexi day off today. We went to see the autumn colours at Dunham Massey this afternoon. The trees and the kitchen garden cooperated nicely.
It's a grey, damp day, I'm reading Local Haunts by Adam Scovell and his essay about Alderley Edge has sent me back to our most recent visit on a similarly grey, damp day.
#AlderleyEdge #AlanGarner #WierdstoneCountry
#AlderleyEdge #AlanGarner #WierdstoneCountry
October 20, 2025 at 10:15 AM
It's a grey, damp day, I'm reading Local Haunts by Adam Scovell and his essay about Alderley Edge has sent me back to our most recent visit on a similarly grey, damp day.
#AlderleyEdge #AlanGarner #WierdstoneCountry
#AlderleyEdge #AlanGarner #WierdstoneCountry
2.5 months ago, while assembling some boltless shelving at work with an inadequate camping mallet, I clobbered a finger. Like the rings on a tree, my finger nail tells the story.
#HumanBiology #FingerNail
#HumanBiology #FingerNail
October 20, 2025 at 10:03 AM
2.5 months ago, while assembling some boltless shelving at work with an inadequate camping mallet, I clobbered a finger. Like the rings on a tree, my finger nail tells the story.
#HumanBiology #FingerNail
#HumanBiology #FingerNail